Political commentary from the LA Times

Obama: Ted Kennedy opened Oval Office door to people like me

August 26, 2009 | 9:08
am

President Obama, awakened by aides at 2 a.m. today
with news that Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy had died, looked haunted and
grief-stricken today as he tried to frame the legacy of the man they called the
"Lion of the Senate."

“Even though we have known this day was coming for some time
now,” he said, “we awaited it with no small amount of dread.” Unlike his brothers, both felled by assassins' bullets, Obama said, Ted Kennedy's 18-month struggle against brain cancer "has given us the opportunity we were denied when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us: the blessing of time to say thank you -- and goodbye."

Calling him a “singular figure in American history,” Obama
said Kennedy had done “extraordinary good,” becoming a
guardian for his family and the “defender of a dream” for America.

Obama appeared without a tie or coat on the grass outside his
rented compound on Martha's Vineyard, where he is vacationing with First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters. He stood at a makeshift podium. Without his usual teleprompters, Obama read
from a paper that was flapping in the breeze.

There he grappled with the
question of how much he and other once-marginalized
Americans -- blacks and Latinos, women and the disabled -- owed to this youngest brother of the famous Kennedy clan.

His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and
reflected in millions of lives -- in seniors who know new dignity, in families
that know new opportunity, in children who know education's promise, and in all
who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just --
including myself.

You can read the transcript of the president’s remarks below,
as provided by the White House.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo Credit: Associated Press

For Immediate
Release
August 26, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

ON THE PASSING OF SENATOR
EDWARD M. KENNEDY

Blue Heron Farm

Chilmark, Massachusetts

9:57 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: I wanted to
say a few words this morning about the passing of an extraordinary leader,
Senator Edward Kennedy.

Over the past several years, I've
had the honor to call Teddy a colleague, a counselor, and a friend. And
even though we have known this day was coming for some time now, we awaited it
with no small amount of dread.

Since Teddy's diagnosis last
year, we've seen the courage with which he battled his illness. And while
these months have no doubt been difficult for him, they've also let him hear
from people in every corner of our nation and from around the world just how
much he meant to all of us. His fight has given us the opportunity we
were denied when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us: the
blessing of time to say thank you -- and goodbye.

The outpouring of love,
gratitude, and fond memories to which we've all borne witness is a testament to
the way this singular figure in American history touched so many lives.
His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of
lives -- in seniors who know new dignity, in families that know new
opportunity, in children who know education's promise, and in all who can
pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just -- including
myself.

The Kennedy name is synonymous
with the Democratic Party. And at times, Ted was the target of partisan
campaign attacks. But in the United States Senate, I can think of no one
who engendered greater respect or affection from members of both sides of the
aisle. His seriousness of purpose was perpetually matched by humility,
warmth, and good cheer. He could passionately battle others and do so
peerlessly on the Senate floor for the causes that he held dear, and yet still
maintain warm friendships across party lines.

And that's one reason he became
not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most
accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy.

His extraordinary life on this
earth has come to an end. And the extraordinary good that he did lives
on. For his family, he was a guardian. For America, he was the
defender of a dream.

I spoke earlier this morning to
Senator Kennedy's beloved wife, Vicki, who was to the end such a wonderful
source of encouragement and strength. Our thoughts and prayers are with
her, his children Kara, Edward, and Patrick; his stepchildren Curran and
Caroline; the entire Kennedy family; decades' worth of his staff; the people of
Massachusetts; and all Americans who, like us, loved Ted Kennedy.